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| Boom Pipes |
by Jeri Crosby
Boom pipes are a novel yet musical addition to my Orff instruments (substituting for bass bars) as well as to my Boomwhackers and home-made instrumentarium. Students (of all ages) LOVE these!
Use four-inch, double-walled drain
pipe (white plastic with black inner lining, which usually comes in ten-foot lengths). Buy a
four-inch end cap for each pipe and some adhesive. (Three ten-foot lengths will make
a full set. You can make a basic ‘bass bar’ set from two lengths.)
These measurements are
approximate. (It is best to cut a tiny bit long because a pipe that’s too short will be sharp and
difficult if not impossible to correct.) After initial cuts, check pitch with a tuner or match
to a piano. Sand or carefully shave with a paring or pocket knife to fine tune.
| C 50 ½ “ 128.3 cm (Cut from piece #1.) E 40 ½“ 102.9 cm (Cut from piece #1.) |
F# 35 ½ “
90.2 cm (Cut from piece #3.)
G 33 ½
“ 85.1 cm (Cut from piece #2.)A 29 ½“ 74.9 cm (Cut from piece #3.)
Bb 28 “ 71.1 cm (Cut from piece #3.)
B 26 ¼“ 66.7 cm (Cut from piece #1.)
C 24 ¾“ 62.9 cm (Cut from piece #3.)
The range of these instruments is from
two octaves below middle C to one
octave below middle C. (This is the same as bass
Boomwwhackers with Octavator caps
applied, but the volume and timbre are bolder.)
A printable version of instructions and picture is available here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Boom-Pipes-Recipe-Instructions-for-Making-Home-made-Bass-Set For color-coded music and activities, please check out my TeachersPayTeachers store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Musical-Magic
I'll be posting more home-made instrument ideas soon : )
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Thanks Jeri!! This is wonderful and so helpful!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found this. I wish you the BEST : )
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much! I have looked for instructions before, and find very vague ones.These are terrific! I can't wait to make these for my classroom!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found this and that it'll be helpful to you, Steph. These are very do-able, and I think you and your students will love them. Have fun and thanks for stopping by : )
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ReplyDeleteThis looks awesome. I'm hoping to install something like this on a playground fence. Any suggestions of how that might work best?
ReplyDeleteThis looks awesome - I'd like to mount something like this on a playground (chain link) fence. Do you have any tips or thoughts about that?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Faye. You could drill small holes in the pipes to mount/suspend them on a fence with wire or screws, but you'd need something to strike the pipes with since they are usually played by bumping the bottom on the floor. I'd love to hear about what you figure out. : )
Deletethanks! It will be a while before i make our 'sound wall', but I'll try to let you know how it goes.
DeleteThanks so much for this post! We made boom pipes in a 7th grade class in 2003, spray painted them, and they are a ton of fun! But, always a problem to store in the classroom because they are SO BIG. What have you found or done to keep these tidy in your room?
ReplyDelete